The Healing Way, A Journal for Cancer Survivors [Hardcover]

Margie Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2000

It is a well-known fact that journal keeping can be a therapeutic tool. Writing about our deepest thoughts and feelings can be a form of release that enhances both our physical and emotional well being. The Healing Way, A Journal for Cancer Survivors provides cancer survivors with a tool for pro-active participation in their own recovery.

The Healing Way includes over sixty topics for reflection and meditation, ranging from spirituality, to daily living with cancer, to support groups, to the nature of the medical treatment. Each topic is accompanied by a brief meditation and provoking questions for thinking about the issues intrinsic to the cancer experience. The "Personal Resource" section contains pages for recording questions to ask doctors, contact information for members of the treatment team, test results and spaces to record the treatment schedule.

Written in consultation with medical and mental health professionals, The Healing Way will be an essential tool for cancer patients in recovery. It will provide them with the means for taking control of their lives and dealing with a wide range of emotions in a constructive and healing way.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

The idea for The Healing Way coalesced from different experiences in my life. I am an Aries, a person of action, yet I watched helplessly as my father died of brain cancer. More recently, I witnessed a close friend with cancer suffer through aggressive chemotherapy and radiation.

From my own healing experience as a personal essay writer and from my perspective as a teacher of personal essay writing for many years, I realized that cancer patients everywhere could benefit from writing about their experiences. When I learned about the Pennebaker studies that showed how writing deep thoughts and feelings about stressful events could help people heal emotionally as well as physically, I knew I was on the right track. Many medical and mental health professionals educated me about the psychosocial issues of cancer patients and helped me fine tune the book.

I lead Writing About Cancer and Writing for Personal Caregivers workshops at cancer hospitals and online at my web site, Writing to Heal, Writing to Grow. Participants in my courses have expressed gratitude for the opportunity to write on the topics, which I take from The Healing Way, because their writing helps them heal deep emotional wounds, even years after they have been in remission.

From the Inside Flap

It is a well known fact that keeping a journal can be a therapeutic process. Writing about our deepest thoughts and feelings is a form of release that can enhance both our physical and emotional well being. The Healing Way provides cancer patients and survivors with a tool for proactive participation in their own recovery.

The Healing Way includes over sixty topics for reflection and meditation, ranging from the nature of the medical treatment, to daily living with cancer, to support groups, to spirituality. Each topic is accompanied by a brief meditation and provoking questions for thinking and writing about the issues that are intrinsic to the cancer experience. The Personal Resource Section contains pages for recording questions to ask doctors, test results, contact information for members of the treatment team, and treatment schedules.

Written in consultation with medical and mental health professionals, The Healing Way is an essential tool for cancer patients and survivors. It provides them with the means for taking control of their lives and dealing with a wide range of emotions in a constructive and healing way.

Margie Davis teaches personal essay writing courses on the Internet and leads Writing About Cancer and Writing for Personal Caregiver courses, both on the Internet and at cancer hospitals. She lives in Massachusetts. Her email address is [e-mail].

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (T) (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1862046964
• ISBN-13: 978-1862046962
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 8.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,061,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cancer: A Serious Diagnosis - Writing Helps!, May 28, 2000

By 

"apapillon" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Healing Way, A Journal for Cancer Survivors (Hardcover)

The author evidences a surprising insight into the needs of cancer patients; especially the newly diagnosed individual, not the survivor. This journal is a must buy for self,friends or loved ones, as soon as news of a malignancy occurs. and physicians should give one to every patient!

Ms. Davis provides a short section on how to use the journal for peole who have not kept one before. Carefully, users are encouraged to seek psychological support because the act of writing may bring up deep, overpowering information, memories, feelings - its a great resource. This journal alone lets people know that it is okay to need, feel, hurt, and that additional support may be needed. The moment one hears the word:"malignant," life changes and new relationships begin that will continue for ever!

It is difficult to 'hear' what is being said, and being proactive at the same time is virtually impossible unless feelings, questions, dates, tests, results, and reactions are written down.

This is a book for the patient's advocate to help him/her with..a relative or friend. Today all we are hearing is that the patient must "Speak Up (Leape)," and protect themselves from negative hospital experiences. Anyone who's been diagnosed with cancer can tell you - its difficult to even remember the date, must less what is happening around you. That is why this is such a timely publication - it balances the current medical model moving the responsibility to the patient. It gives the patient a way to not only track their care, but have it in writing, and an added plus: learn more about oneself in the process, and even let physicians write instructions, phone numbers, etc. in the journal. The quotations are wonderful; encouraging. There is not too much space to write on, nor too little. And it is clear the author seems to be saying, "Just write . . . whatever you want to, but begin... on the healing way.

The journal is divided into topics gving the writer a gentle nudge, and all phases of this journey are included, even before one know what may be next, and the last section is to write in personal resources: questions to ask, test results, contcats, and dates.

It's hard, washable, spiral bound cover makes it easy to use all the time (instead of 10 steno notebooks like I did), and furthermore, Ms. Davis has her e-mail address on the last page for comments and I'm sure a tip or two on journaling! This is certainly a "Buy" in my opinion.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My cancer support group LOVES this book!, July 28, 2000

By 

Phyllis Clearwater - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Healing Way, A Journal for Cancer Survivors (Hardcover)

I bought The Healing Way and started writing in it. When I told my support group about it, they bought it, too. Even the men! At one of our two meetings each month we pick a topic and write then we talk about what we wrote. This author has a way of getting us to disclose what is very personal and what is very important. I recommend this book for anyone in a cancer support group, and especially for anyone who is going through this alone who doesn't have the support of a group.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Materializing Your Essense, and Recording Reality, April 29, 2000

By 

"apapillon" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Healing Way, A Journal for Cancer Survivors (Hardcover)

Do not be put off by the sub title, or Amazon's heading for the book as a way to survive cancer. This is an exceptionally well laid out journal. One's experience with cancer often takes place in an psychological tunnel - to take care of oneself only! Journaling with this book helps one to freely express feelings on paper, without judgement or what society expects: friend, family, etc. when emotional flooding often takes over, naturally, due to terror! The quotes on each section are inspiring, and the author's kind headings give direction and further permit one to just write - let it flow - even if one is emotionally taken from adulthood, to the sudden realization of being regressed, dependent, back to "childhood,' which for some was not a positive place to 'land.' "Writing and Mozart are healing," I've put on my own web site, and by that I mean one may be removed from the horrors of losing one's normal day, and landing in a dark wind tunnel - through journaling.

I'd definitely have preferred this journal than my 10 spiral notebooks! Make it a "Buy!"